Fictional Biography
(insert discussion of genre, lost when internet explorer crashed, dagnabbit). The list below is based upon Win Scott Eckert's listing on his The Wold Newton Universe website], and on the expanded list in his book Crossovers. However, there will be entries here not on either list. ''Sleuths: 23 Great Detectives of Fiction & Their Best Stories'' by Kenneth MacGowan (1931) Sleuths was a collection of short stories about fictional detectives by various hands, but with the gimmick that each piece came with a Who's Who-style mini-biography of each detective. ''The Gay Adventurer'' aka The Life and Exploits of the Scarlet Pimpernel by John Blakeney (1935) Published while the Baroness Orczy was still writing stories about Sir Percy Blakeney and his descendents, and not always consistent with them. It is generally assumed that “John Blakeney” was actually her son John Orczy Barstow. The book is available online here. "A Probable Outline of Conan's Career" by P. Schuyler Miller and John D. Clark (1938), variously revised under other titles by L. Sprague de Camp (1952 onwards) The original article is online here. ''Yankee Lawyer: The Autobiography of Ephraim Tutt'' by Arthur Train (1943) A popular entry in Train's long-running series of novels, in which Tutt turns on him and takes the role of narrator, going through the story of his life and pointing out where Train has misrepresented him in print in the past. ''Four-&-Twenty Bloodhounds'' by Anthony Boucher (1950). *Verne Chute's Shadrack Arnold *Joseph Commings's Senator Brooks U. Banner *W.T Brannon's Jim Burgess *John Dickson Carr's Dr. Gideon Fell *Ken Crssen's Mortimer Death *Matthew Head's Dr. Mary Finney *Dr. Sam: Johnson, as chronicled by Lillia de la Torre *Harold Q. Masur's Scott Jordan *Frank Kane's Johnny Liddell *Jerome & Harold Prince's Inspector Magruder *James M. Fox's John and Suzy Marshall *Merlini, as chronicled by "Clayton Rawson" (pen-name for The Great Merlini and Ross Harte) *D.B. Olsen's Miss Rachel Murdock *The Mysterious Traveller, as chronicled by Robert Arthur *Anthony Boucher's Nick Noble *Lawrence G. Blochman's O'Reilly Sahib *Stewart Sterling's Ben Pedley *August Derleth's Solar Pons *Ellery Queen *Brett Halliday's Michael Shayne *Frederick Brown's Henry Smith *George Harmon Coxe's Dr. Paul Standish *Q. Patrick's Lt. Timothy Trant *Kelley Roos's Jeff and Haila Troy *Stuart Palmer's Hildegarde Withers Explicitly-modelled on Sleuths, Boucher composed (allegedly drawing his information from question sheets completed by the detectives themselves) similar Who's Who-style entries for each work in his anthology of detective fiction - with three exceptions. Ellery Queen refused to supply any information, sending Boucher a facetious letter instead, which is reprinted complete with signature; The Mysterious Traveller is said to have supplied biographical information so disturbing that it could not be published, with Boucher announcing that he had had to send a copy to Miskatonic University instead (one wonders how many readers in 1950 recognised the joke here); Brett Halliday supplied no further information beyond his Michael Shayne story which recounts how the two men got to know each other. ''Maigret’s Memoirs'' by Georges Simenon (1950) Much like Train before him, Maigret has a go at his chronicler and insists on writing the story of his life himself. Simenon later allowed Julian Symons to write an associated pastiche, great detectives “About Maigret and the Stolen Papers”, in his Great Detectives (see below). ''Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street'' by William S. Baring-Gould (1962) Arguably the culmination of all Sherlockian speculation - although by no means the last - Baring-Gould draws together much work by himself and other hands to tell the story of the Great Detective's family, career, and retirement. The book is notable for popularising the idea that Nero Wolfe was Sherlock Holmes's son. Elements from the Professor Challenger stories, and from three notable pastiches, are also included. ''Nero Wolfe of West Thirty-Fifth Street'' by William S. Baring-Gould (1969) Whereas Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street was a straight biography of the late Sherlock Holmes, Nero Wolfe of West 35th Street is more a collection of essays about the still-living New York detective, each one dealing with a different aspect of Wolfe's career, life, and circle. ''The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower'' by C. Northcote Parkinson (1970) Although books in a similar vein had been written before, the idea behind The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower seems to have been a new one to its readers. Parkinson took the character of Horatio Hornblower, the protagonist of the historical novels by C.S. Forester, and wrote such a straight biography that some reviewers missed the point and thought Hornblower had actually existed. ''Tarzan Alive'' by Philip José Farmer (1972) See main article Tarzan Alive. "The Obscure Life and Hard Times of Kilgore Trout" in The Book of Philip José Farmer (1973) ''Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life'' by Philip José Farmer (1973) See main article Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. ''James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007'' by John Pearson (1973) John Pearson was a colleague of Ian Fleming and wrote his biography. James Bond: The Authorised Biography ''reveals that Pearson started to get peculiar correspondence once his Fleming book was out, which lead him to discover that James Bond is not fictional at all. It is interesting to note that before Fleming's literary estate took an interest, Pearson anticipated that the book would have to be a parody in order to reach print. It is interesting to note that Pearson's book was published around the same time as Farmer's, as the latter also includes - consistent - information about James Bond's ancestry. ''America's Secret Service Ace by Nick Carr (1974) About Operator #5. "Edgar Rice Burroughs: A Brief Biographical Sketch" in A Guide to Barsoom by John Flint Roy (1976) ''I, Sherlock Holmes'' by Michael Harrison (1977) In essentials, this is a novelisation of Harrison's earlier work of Sherlockian speculation The World of Sherlock Holmes, with conclusions that he had reached found to be confirmed by the Great Detective's own memoir, preserved in the British Library. ''The Wimsey Family'' by C.W. Scott-Giles (1977) Penned by the Fitzalan Pursuivant of Arms Extraordinary, based on his longstanding correspondence with Dorothy L. Sayers about the ancestry of Lord Peter Wimsey. ''John Steed: An Authorized Biography, Volume 1: Jealous In Honour'' by Tim Heald (1977) Only the first volume of the life of John Steed, central character of the television programme The Avengers, was ever produced, and only one edition was printed. Described in hushed tones on various websites, such as here. ''The Private Lives of Private Eyes, Spies, Crime Fighters, and Other Good Guys" by Otto Penzler (1977) The section about Maigret has been posted on a fan website. "Jonathan Swift Somers III: Cosmic Traveller in a Wheelchair" by Philip José Farmer (1977) Available online here. ''Biggles: The Authorized Biography by John Pearson (1978) The conceit of this book is that Captain James Bigglesworth, the World War One flying ace whose adventures were described by W.E. Johns lived near Pearson following his retirement. The book is not much liked by Biggles fans, as it takes considerable liberties with Johns's works. ''The Flying Spy: A History of G-8'' by Nick Carr (1978) ''Jeeves: A Gentleman's Personal Gentleman'' by C. Northcote Parkinson (1979) In this book Parkinson assembles episodes from P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster stories into a continuous narrative, as well as adding incidents of his own. Not perhaps a successful imitation of Wodehouse's style, although the all-star cast audiobook adaptation in particular occasionally raises a smile. Notably, Lord Peter Wimsey, Bunter, Hercule Poirot and Father Brown all appear. Northcote Parkinson cites his inspiration as Geoffrey Jaggard's concordance-cum-book of quotations, Wooster's World (1967). ''The Great Detectives: Seven Original Investigations'' by Julian Symons, illustrated by Tom Adams (1981) A coffee-table book of original critical, speculative and creative material about Miss Marple (and her encounter with Sherlock Holmes) and St. Mary Mead (article by the narrator of one of Agatha Christie's novels; the fate of Nero Wolfe (interview with Archie Goodwin); Ellery Queen (meeting with Frederic Dannay; Maigret's encounter with Poirot; Captain Hastings's biographical research into Poirot's life; an interview with the man on whom Philip Marlowe was based. ''The Brownstone House of Nero Wolfe, as told by Archie Goodwin'' by Ken Darby (1983) A fictional biography of Nero Wolfe's house, also revealing much about both Wolfe and Archie's lives. Flatly contradicts both Symons's book and Robert Goldsborough's continuation novels regarding the fate of Wolfe and Archie. ''The Private Life of Dr. Watson'' by Michael Hardwick (1983) This novel has the doctor recall his somewhat racy adventures in youth, before he encountered Holmes. The title is a riff on The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes - the novelisation of the film of that name had been written by Michael and Mollie Hardwick. ''Suspects'' by David Thomson (1985) Not, unfortunately, consistent with the Wold Newton Universe. The narrator of this novel writes biographies of different movie characters, expanding on what is known from the films, and gradually the articles begin to bleed into each other. ''Sherlock Holmes: My Life and Crimes'' by Michael Hardwick (1986) Although the book opens as an autobiography, discussing - for example - Sherlock Holmes's early work with the Pinkertons, it rapidly turns into a novel as Holmes reveals to the reader the true events of the Great Hiatus. ''The Life and Times of Miss Jane Marple'' by Anne Hart (1989) ''The Life and Times of Hercule Poirot'' by Anne Hart (1990) Essentially an analysis of the stories and characters as fiction. ''Arthur Daley Straight Up: The Autobiography'' by Paul Ableman and Leon Griffiths (1991) This book begins as a narrative of the youth of Arthur Daley, the car dealer from Minder, but ultimately turns into a selection of his adventures, probably derived from television episodes. Interestingly, the cover bears a recommendation from Derek Trotter, the central character in Only Fools and Horses. Other television shows have produced books in a similar vein to Straight Up - finding a way of adapting what is on the screen into a book without just producing flat novelisations or script books, but this is perhaps the closest to actual autobiography. ''Leopold Bloom: A Biography'' aka The Life of Leopold Bloom: A Novel by Peter Costello (1992) A straight biographical study of the protagonist of James Joyce's Ulysses. ''The Reminisences of the Hon. Galahad Threepwood'' by N.T.P. Murphy (1993) Ostensibly a later edition of the book consumed by the pig Empress of Blandings in Wodehouse's Heavy Weather, and finally revealing the truth about Parslowe and the prawns, and what happened to Lord Ickenham and Pongo at the dog races, this book is actually about the real-life characters who haunted the Pelican Club at the end of the ninteenth century. ''Holmes and Watson'' by June Thomson (1995) ''Radio's Captain Midnight: The Wartime Biography'' by Stephen Kallis (1999) ''The World of Austin Powers'' by Andy Lane (2002) ''Nancy Drew, Confessions of a Teen Sleuth: A Parody'' by Chelsea Cain (2005 ''I am the Doctor: The Unauthorised Diaries of a Timelord'' by John Peel (2007) Ostensibly interviews with ten incarnations of the Doctor - and one of his companions - this book is just lists the barest details of the plots of all broadcast television stories. And for some reason, each Doctor is able to describe the circumstances of his regeneration into his subsequent body... ''Eclectic Gypsy: An Unauthorised Biography of Doctor Who'' by Dave Thompson (2008) A spoof of the whole idea of a fictional biography, citing interviews with dead Time Lords and articles from unlikely interstellar publications (and occasionally mocking one or two specific fans). Category:Table of Contents Category:Scholarship